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[Wierdo]

Bhryaen wrote...

The Fred wrote...

Speaking of balancing issues, I'm having much the same thoughts about Dark Horizons, and that's with the bugged returning throwing dagger removed (which I really would have liked to have, for Xan and later Immy). Dark Side of the Sword Coast was almost as bad in parts, and the Drizzt Saga was the worst of the lot (though I guess that's partially excusable given the nature of the thing). I know mod-makers like to add cool new things, but I can't see why they can't restrain themselves just a little when peppering the place with loot - I'm almost tempted to make a "tone-down" mod to install on top of all these others.

Hear! Hear!

Since I am heavily thieving my way through SOBH, I admit that my strategy is proving extraordinarily successful and I am finding more cool stuff than I ever expected to find (this is reflected in my "wow" comments). It is not so much that any individual items are necessarily too powerful or that the "adventure" treasures are overpowered - it is more that there are too many available for unscrupulous players (like me) to steal. For example, the Ring of Regeneration and Flame Tongue sword pickpocketed from Baron Grellus, and the Frost Reaver Axe +3. However, I guess that fortune favours the bold (and the sneaky) , and I will not resile from my ill-gotten but hard-won gains.

If it makes any difference, the SOBH mod is pretty stingy on experience for completing quests etc. I get frustrated with reporting back to Pelltar or whoever that I have killed all the baddies and solved the problems, only to be given a "well-done" and a pat on the back, but either no or small exp rewards. Extra treasure helps in that regard.

My apologies to the author, but I resisted installing the Drizzt Saga because of (a) the mega-items and ( because I don't like the way that the mod pushes and pushes and pushes you to keep pressing on with it immediately. The exp is good (try awesome), but your characters will also probably die a lot - not good for a no-reload game. I also strongly felt that the whole mod seems like a Drizzt self-promotion exercise. The monsters are too high level for your party to deal with alone and so you have to rely heavily on Drizzt the whole time. And then he brings along all his friends to displace your other NPCs. Which kind-of spoils the game premise a bit - it is meant to be about your PC 'protagonist' and his/her companions, not some overpowered ego-centric bleeding-heart drow ring-in from another story.

Modifié par Wierdo, 21 février 2011 - 08:07 .

[Grond0]

Wierdo wrote...
My apologies to the author, but I resisted installing the Drizzt Saga because of (a) the mega-items and ( because I don't like the way that the mod pushes and pushes and pushes you to keep pressing on with it immediately. The exp is good (try awesome), but your characters will also probably die a lot - not good for a no-reload game. I also strongly felt that the whole mod seems like a Drizzt self-promotion exercise. The monsters are too high level for your party to deal with alone and so you have to rely heavily on Drizzt the whole time. And then he brings along all his friends to displace your other NPCs. Which kind-of spoils the game premise a bit - it is meant to be about your PC 'protagonist' and his/her companions, not some overpowered ego-centric bleeding-heart drow ring-in from another story.

My feeling was also that this mod was not properly part of either the BG1 or BG2 story and therefore was best done after finishing BG1 and before starting BG2 - this also dealt with the balance issues.  In my no-reload game I had other mods installed with the Drizzt saga and therefore had both the equipment and experience to take on the mod on a level playing field.  Drizzt was the only one of his party that I recruited, so there wasn't much disconnect from the way I played the rest of the game.

[Bhryaen]

Akgrogan, Day 13: Fandangled Nibbling
Well, it seems the good folks o' Beregost can get their crossbow bolts fer themselves. In fact, there be some pinkish troops thick about the entire town- even in the inns- wot don't give ye the time o' day, much less ask ye fer fetchin' favors.


[Tell me that's not pink! Contrast the armor color with the helm plume...]


"Just a wee drink from the Feldepost stores..."


[Now there's some hot red...] "One more whistle and I'll give them lips a taste of a Morninglord's mace!"

Instead I been findin' a different sort o' fetchin' to do. One lady 'ad me fetchein' a letter out o' the dead 'ands o' an ogrekin an' 'is pal. A paladin 'ad me fetchin' the lives o' another group o' ogrekin for a deed o' vengefulness. Another lady 'ad me fetchin' a brew to turn a slime into a blubberin' loverboy. 'Ow did that kissin' a frog story go again? Sort o' 'ad to fetch a pearl necklace from a lass wot 'ad swiped it from 'er parents... 'cept I ain't swiped it meself in turn. So much fer me 'ard edges... Then a 'aflin' sends me fetchin' 'is bloody short sword from a dog'ead. Then I gets cutpursed o' some gold an' given the chance to earn it back by 'andin' over a pair o' boots wot I took fair an' square from a pack o' 'obgoblins. Well, I give 'em up, I did, an' then I chased the bugger up an' down the stairs 'til I 'ad 'em back.

'Course that bit o' vengefulness ain't done me so good. I already got meself in trouble wit' the locals for rough housin' at the inn an' killin' that bloke wot couldn't keep 'is trap shut after all. So now I be generally disliked. [Down to 6 Rep!] I tries to fix dat at the temple, but when I donates 100gp it don't do nothin' for me. [Then I check the manual which says I need 200gp to raise a point from 6 Rep to 7.] So then I gives 200gp, but it still ain't enough fer 'em apparently. So I gives 300gp, an' now I be down to me last 1000, but the bloody sirinelicker priest still ain't satisfied! I bet it be's somethin' ta do wit' the times. Real hard times...

So it become me mission to make dis right an' be square wit' de locals... 'specially after nickin' pretty much every bit o' treasure I could from their 'omes... I 'membered a lass out by de temple wot been a statue o' stone, so I bought me a couple Stone-ta-Flesh scrolls from priesty boy an' 'eaded there. Oh, she been 'appy to be relieved o' 'er stony mantle, but it ain't done me reputation no good. Brat figured jus' tossin' me some fizzle o' a potion be enough reward. Bah! But she mention somethin' 'bout a cave nearby where she got turned to stone by baskets, so I figured I'd look, maybe find another stone girl. So I 'eaded east into the wilds an', wouldn't ye know it? Found another stony lass. This one I persuaded to gimme a nice talkin' back in Beregost, so at least dat be dat, but it still ain't brung me up from general dislike. [Rep 7, but still Disliked] Also come across some serious beasties wot I figured I'd steer clear o' fer now.

Never figured I'd find meself the 'eroic sort, but to save meself from gettin' pegged as the scoundrel I be, I been scourin' the surroundin' area tryin' to find do-gooderin' to do. I come upon a orcish feller but 'e jus' flapped 'is jaws an' ain't 'ad no troubles fer fixin'. Found a hermit wot 'ad a powerful sense o' me predicament when 'e says I be "at odds wit' meself" an' me "coin be on edge." 'Bout sums up me coinage an' reputation situation. Met a paranoid bloke in an inn wot called me a "fandangled nibbler," but if 'e needed 'elp, I ain't the one fer to give it. Another nutter been "fish-wranglin'" with 'is pal, but both been content enough. And last I finds a girl wot lost 'er cat down the gullet o' a waterfall, but I guess she been disappointed, wot wit' me findin' de cat dead as doornails, so she ain't promised me a whit o' nice-talkin' fer bringin' 'er back the carcass. Thing 'ad quite the stench too!

Travelin' ain't been easy neither. Them fetchin's 'ad me all over the place. Twice I come upon some big green worm burrowin' under me feets (one time o' which 'appened on the walk from the Temple back to Beregost!), once I been ambushed by a small horde o' kobolds an' their red wolfy pets, an' still the ogrekin keeps a'comin'. O' course I took me a raincheck on them invitations for scuffle... [And every time I was so hasty in departure I forgot to take holiday snaps!]

Otherwise jus' been a lot o' killin' nasties out an' about, losin' me healin' potions little by little. When I come upon kobolds wit' flamin' arrows, I decides I could use de 'elp o' a healer, so I goes back to de Temple an' makes 'em gimme at least some 'elp. There I picks up a cleric o' Lathander, name o' Gavin, who, first thin' 'e says, can't abide me actions much longer. So me mission o' do-goodin' be all the more dire...

Akgrogan, FTR 3/ THF 4, 137 kills, Marl (for shame!), bow & arrow (really feeling the 17DEX with so many misses, I gave him specialization with the longbow... probably regret that later...)
Gavin, CLC 5 (??), 0 kills, -blank-, -blank-

Modifié par Bhryaen, 21 février 2011 - 02:57 .

[Bhryaen]

Akgrogan, Final Day: We Probable Go through You Sometime
The lass with the kitty may 'ave been a bit stingy on gratitude, but we rounds the 'illside to find a treespirit girl wit' a favor to asks. All we 'ad to do were to snuff a couple o' 'eavy-breathers. Fer dat she sent word wit' de birds back to Beregost to sings me praises. [Rep 8, but still saying Disliked] Still ain't enough to pull me out o' the fire, but at least I be out o' the fryin' pan. O' course Gavin's only words to me been "It still ain't enough." Thank ye, mate.

So I figures to 'ead out north, maybe find a lighthouse or somethin', but I decides to keep searchin' out the area first, see wot might turn up. After killin' a simple wolf an' a exiled gnoll, I ain't figured on stumblin' upon a large pack o' ogrekin.These ones been lookin' right tough, I can tell ye, but I figured I just lures 'em out from in front o' that western pathway they be guardin' an' pick 'em off wit' arrows at me leisure.

First one falls easy, but I goes up to bring the other two an'... bloody ogre wizard comes out o' nowheres! O' course I took off runnin'. I'd left Gavin too far away to do a bloody thing- or get 'urt, I suppose- an' I been runnin' in the opposite direction any'ow. But that wizard sent someodd, shiny mote at me- 'ard to tell wot it be-... But it sure do look pretty... oh, blades o' grass, so beautiful, all about the ground beneath me feets. Wot do this pain be in me 'ead? Feels like a club-


"Two's company..."

Whatyou can't see is that in my inventory quickslots I had not one but TWO potions of invisibility I could've used before the Confusion hit me...

NEXT!

Modifié par Bhryaen, 21 février 2011 - 04:40 .

[Bhryaen]

Fortunately Gorion is never short on wards... (Forgot to ScrnShot during char creation...)

I just spent the last several hours trying 10 different sound file editors until I finally got the right sound extractor + sound converter + sound editor to be able to customize a soundset from a given set of sounds. Mostly I just didn't like the very limited Drizzt voice I'd gotten from online that had maybe 6 voices prompts, so I made my own that works fairly well, fills all the speech slots except Day/ Night, decently improvises from the BG1 and BG2 Drizzt statements available, interjects not too overbearingly, and is edited to leave out most all of the edit crackles. I don't want to play Drizzt, mind you, but just a drow with his nickname (so the soundset applies properly to a different character... (Does the mere mention of Drizzt attract your ilk??")):



This is somewhat belatedly taken, but after final editing... Thought NG better than N for him, and changed the name accordingly.

Modifié par Bhryaen, 22 février 2011 - 12:55 .

[Grond0]

Bhryaen wrote...
First one falls easy, but I goes up to bring the other two an'... bloody ogre wizard comes out o' nowheres!

Hard luck, but quite understandable - that group's ended my run before now.  The placement is particularly vicious as, if you travel into the area from the west, you arrive right at their feet.

[Gorthaur X]

Random adventures around the Sword Coast:

We exit the Nashkel mines and explore the area, killing undead creatures and finding a Wand of Monster Summoning. We also meet an unstable mage who decides, rather foolishly, to attack us. He only seems to have various enchantment/mind control spells, which are utterly useless against a berserking Shar-Teel and Viconia's undead servants. As we return to Berrun Ghastkill for our due payment, we meet yet another assassin. Sadly for him, he does not live up to his own hype.

We run some errands, kill Bjornin's ogres and so on before going back to Beregost to recruit Kagain and confront Tranzig, who falls before our might easily enough. Afterwards, we run some errands, loot the Flesh Golem cave for an extra constitution point for Oberon - now at 16 - kill a "Doomsayer", rescue Brage and so on. The end result: our reputation is now back at 14, even without cashing in Bjornin's reward for his ogres, and that makes for enough of a store discount for Oberon to fulfill his lifelong dream of slaying monsters in the stylish robes of an archmage.


"So sexy it hurts."

Time to head after the bandits. We kill Teven in Peldvale with no difficulty, but as we're exploring the area, we run into a fellow I've never met in my previous games. He looks creepy with that whateverskin spell on him, but I decide to talk to him regardless. A mistake; he accuses us of killing his "brothers", summons another druid I failed to notice earlier, and attacks. Both call forth a large assortment of animals, and a shiver runs through Oberon's spine as they start casting - a disturbing memory of booming thunder and charred flesh from a previous life and a previous Oberon.

"Don't let him cast that spell don't don't don't!"

"YOU BURRRNNNAAAAAAHHHH!"

Fortunately, the battle ends there with nobody being seriously injured, and the druids and assorted animals provide us with a nice bit of experience: Kivan reaches level 7, which brings his APR to 3. Nice. Viconia isn't that far from her sixth mage level, either (being a Cleric6/Mage5 atm).

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 21 février 2011 - 06:30 .

[Wierdo]

Wow, Bhryaen - bad luck there. Ogres can be a nasty lot.

Nearly time for Wierdo and her party to say goodbye to Restenford and get back to her main quest.

Sold all her party's accumulated gems to a selected merchant and got quite a lot of cash, then went shopping for stuff. Highlights include a Robe of the Good Archmagi for Wierdo, Gauntlets of Crushing for Buddha, various boots, scrolls, arrows etc. Wierdo spent any extra leftover cash on Arrows of Detonation, which are expensive but lots of fun to use .

Resolved some major quests and the party got some fair (but not overly generous) experience for that, including 12000 for having finally done everything and being ready to go back to the Sword Coast. So I take back my earlier comments about there not being enough experience in SOBH - I just wasn't patient enough.

No more big hints for future players here, except that to suggest that if players are stuck and unable to finish SOBH then they should try:
(a) Searching the Thief's Den map again.
( Try talking to the guards over near the Hanging Tree on the Temple map.

Pelltar has now sent the party back to the mainland, so the story will continue from there.

Modifié par Wierdo, 21 février 2011 - 07:10 .

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...

Kivan reaches level 7, which brings his APR to 3. Nice. Viconia isn't that far from her sixth mage level, either (being a Cleric6/Mage5 atm).

Well done. the game should feel less like "death around every corner" for you, now that your characters are at the level 5/6/7 stage.

[Gorthaur X]

Yep. I still need to learn a bit more humility and not lead with my scrawny PC quite so much. Let Kagain take the heat, that's what he's there for. Also I should possibly consider buying the Cloak of Displacement so I can wear the Boots of Grounding (instead of Avoidance) and be a bit safer from surprise lightning.



Still, the Bandit Camp should be entirely doable even with SCS, as long as no bounty hunters decide to spawn in this time.

[Gorthaur X]

And onward we go, blazing through Peldvale and from there to the camp itself. We rest in a secluded place, cast invisibility, then rest again so Smog can cast another one later on. Better safe than sorry.

Now it's on. Oberon leads his invisible party into Tazok's tent, where we find a bunch of formidable-looking adventurers. Not feeling like we need to enter into a dialogue with thieving, murdering scum, Shar-Teel sees fit to open with a supremely unfair backstab on their mage:


"KABLOOEY!"

Following that, Shar-Teel and Kagain turn on the gnoll, Oberon uses Algernon's Cloak on one of the Black Talon Elites, Edwin casts Horror, and Viconia throws a Hold Person into the mix. The battle is effectively won in a single round.


"I almost feel sorry for these guys. Almost."

After looting the tent, Smog casts another invisibility spell, just in case there's any nasty surprises outside. There aren't however, and we're clear to leave completely unnoticed. However, Kivan expresses a strong distaste for the notion - poor bastard didn't even get to kill Tazok - and so we decide to go on the offensive. However, thirty or so bandits against six adventurers seems a bit unfair. Why not even the odds a bit:


"Alright, men. You'll be leading the charge and taking the brunt of enemy fire, but you've already died once, so what do you care?"

Edwin and Viccy cast Haste and Chant on the whole troop, and we sweep into the base, blowing everything away like a great wind... a great biotic wind! Taugosz Khosann goes down to "Near Death" from Sharty's backstab, and though he still manages to put up a fight, a Magic Missile from Edwin and a stab in the eye from a skeleton take him down. He did take out two of my helpers - tough bugger, no doubt. The rest of the camp, however, is even less of a challenge. Arrows are of little use against an enemy without flesh, and even Ardenor Crush is killed before I even notice.

Kivan and Viconia bicker while the rest of us loot the camp for money, items and scalps. This turned out to be a lucrative venture: I'll have 10,000+ gold pieces once I sell all the loot, enough to afford either the Shadow Armor for Shar-Teel, or a fully charged Wand of Lightning from Thalantyr.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 21 février 2011 - 09:45 .

[The Fred]

Bhryaen wrote...
Actually when installing The Grey Clan you're offered a "normal" and a "lite" version. I'm not sure if "lite" means they go lighter on the loot drops or simply tone down the excessive enemy powers.

I believe the former is the case; the "lite" version makes the battles a little easier, since the enemies basically get cheat-level advantages. There's one fight in particular which I remember being rather unfair - the rest were relatively doable, if challenging. Actually, the Grey Clan is probably the best of the mods when it comes to overpowered loot. It gives you a few nice pieces, but there're only really a sword and a halberd which one could call really overpowered, at least given the standards of other mods, and halberds are under-represented, anyway.

[Wierdo]

@Gorthaur X: Oberon certainly is doing well with those bandits! Nice action pics too. He uses strategies worthy of Wierdo herself. Speaking of which, She will be getting to the bandit camp soon. I think that the camp will be pretty tough with SCS's improved Black Talons. So it is a good thing that the party has now finished SOBH and returned with some good loot.

More on the adventures of Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

AMBUSH!

Pelltar teleported the party back to the temple near Beregost. As was common these days, the group was travelling invisibly, except for Wierdo (who did all the talking).




For a pleasant change, they decided to go out the southeast exit, to take a stroll and breath in some fresh Sword Coast air. In the image below, you may notice that Wierdo is as grey as the temple's stone walls - that is because before leaving Restenford she spent some of her hard-earned cash on Boots of the Gargoyle, which casts Stoneskin.





Buddha ran ahead (because that is what he does). Lo! he discovers a band of well-armed and mean-looking mercenaries lying in wait (red circles), led by some mage-looking guy called "Shargrailar" - who has a white circle, probably just so that he can give an evil rant. Well, it doesn't take 21 intelligence to recognise that this is an ambush set for the party.



Seems like a straightforward immolation strategy is called for. Invisibly, the party moves to the south of the ambushers who seem intent of the temple archway. Then:

- Finch summons skeletons.
- Spangle makes all the skeltons (+Finch) invisible again.
- Wierdo & Xan buff up (Shield, Blur/Mirror image).
- Finch casts Remove Fear & Bless and Wierdo casts Haste on the small stealth army er... party.



Wierdo draws just 2 Arrows of Detonation out of her ammo belt, another little surprise from the shops in Restenford, and gives one to Imoen - who looks uncertain, then smiles with just a bit more wickedness than Wierdo expected!

All are buffed and set, just to now move everyone up and unleash hell ... Crikey, they have a Rashel as a hostage! Or did she just wander along innocently?



Never mind, Wierdo can't risk killing Rashel, as she is an innocent. Have to abort. Damn, we were all buffed everything. Buffing won't last long. If we can't kill them now, then we'll have to deal with them later. It might be a lot messier. What if they hurt Rashel in the meantime? Oh, the dilemna.

They are about to abort, and then realise there is another option.

The heavy artillery section of the party moves around the left a bit and immolates anyway. It will require precision targeting to miss Rashel and precision timing to pull it off. It'll only take a round or so. Rashel wasn't moving when I last saw her. So long as she stays still for just a little longer ....

OK, adapt the strategy and be careful. Everyone moves into place, including skeletons, just out of range except for:

Annakin: he moves close to some mercenaries, ready to strike. But then Wierdo realises that everyone is invisible .... everyone except her!

Oh no, they are moving towards Wierdo ... but maybe that would work to Wierdo's advantage, as they were moving past the invisible & fireproof Annakin.

So, everybody acted immediately and simultaneously. Five fireballs were called for - Imoen used her Necklace of Missiles + her single Arrow of Detonation. Wierdo & Xan cast Fireball spells. Wierdo followed with the other Arrow of Detonation. And with Annakin in the middle of all of the conflagration!



Annakin hacked his sword at a mercenary just as he heard the breath leave Imoen's mouth as she hurled her necklace's fiery missile.

It was all over in seconds. Just before the first fireball hit (Imoen's), Shargrailar gave his evil rant about wanting his blue staff back. Then he expressed that he wanted to kill me, which was a great surprise I can tell you. Good thing we were prepared.



Luckily, the five fireballs proved to be almost exactly the right amount to kill off all of the mercenaries. Several of the mercs managed to drink healing potions along the way, but most of the died with the last fireball (from Xan - geez Xan, a bit close to that fireball or what!)

Annakin was almost unharmed due to his 100% fire resistance, but for some reason took 5hp damage from Wierdo's last arrow. Maybe Wierdo accidentally hit Annakin with the arrow? Anyway, twas just a scratch, and a friendly one at that.

Shargrailar was still white, and quickly running away. Actually, he was running really quickly and looked like he might get away.

Fortunately for Wierdo (and unfortunately for him), Buddha, Finch and 2-3 skeltons were invisible and not far away. Force-attacking, Finch cast Doom and Buddha's Stunning Blow ability worked a treat (you can see the 'effect' on him in the image above). Unable to run or move, the wizard didn't last long.

Better check that wizard corpse. Wow, nice Boots of Speed. Seems that Wierdo might be able to keep up with Buddha now after all.

Seems that it has been a good day for thumping evil. We even managed to save the damsel in distress

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 09:45 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Family photos

With Bone Hill done for now, the party is almost ready to venture into bandit territories and ultimately the Cloakwood Forest. Here is how they stand:



Wierdo, Gnome Illusionist/Thief LV 6/7 S18 D18 C16 I21 W11 Ch10 Fav Weapon: longsword Kills: 22%, Toughest: Shoal the Nereid
Spangle, the super-cool and mega-cuddly Fairy Dragon
Annakin, Human Berserker LV7 S18/69 D18 C19 I18 W13 Ch10 Fave Weapon: longsword Kills: 42%, Toughest: otyugh
Buddha: Human Monk LV7 S18 D18 C16 I11 W18 Ch11 Fave Weapon: darts Kills:15%, Toughest: skeleton warrior
Imoen, Thief LV8, Fave Waepon: Bow Kills: 7% Toughest: greater basilisk
Finch, Gnome Cleric LV7, Fave Weapon:sling Kills: 4% Toughest: mustard jelly
Xan, Elf Sorcerer LV8, Fave weapon: throwing dagger Kills: 7% Toughest: Otyugh

All kills are by chapter.

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 09:42 .

[Bhryaen]

Playing with NPCs is a world of difference away from soloing... which is pretty much what I did the last two chars. Ignoring the meter instead of counting every XP award is a new approach, though I probably am setting myself back a bit by not levelling a few before taking on auto-levelled party members. My survival chances are up, and that counts for something.. It took a (relatively) weakling MAGE/THF char to push me in this direction. Fights are going faster, there are plenty of interactions even with just Gavin and Imoen so far, not to mention that more of the voiceset comes out in a party as well, so I get to hear the fruits of my voiceset-crafting labor better (mentioned earlier). It's like colour tv vs black & white. My plan is to get Kivan, then Minsc & Dynaheir, and have that be the party for the duration. Hopefully that pans out... I want Imoen to make it so that it works storywise through to ToB.

The gig is up on Pink Morninglords as well. Gavin was questioned by the pink-obsessed Imoen about his pink tunic, and he replied that pink is Lathander's color due to the colour of the sunrise. Regardless of the debatability of that premise, that was the official priest's assertion (and completely unsolicited by my char, mind you, who is simply trying to speak to a slime during that conversation). *closes book*

Just a quick plug for the GavinNPC mod too. It's very well-written, and reasonably well voice-acted, much better than I'd anticipated. Even the music accompaniment is better than the BG1NPC Project's NWN-ported music. Indira and especially Finch also looked good, but I can't get them with BGT, so...

I hadn't known how to class Imoen, so I'd made her a swashbuckler, but despite their abilities, they still appear underwhelming, so she'll never be a tank, and if she duals to mage, well, I'm already a MAGE/THF (except that at least I can backstab!), so... I made her a bard for variety. My original plan had called for Garrick, so that makes it still on target, but I hope a belated Shadowkeeper class-switch won't discombobulate the game mechanics. Fortunately bards have no spells at 1st level that she was supposed to have picked up already, but now I'll have to keep watching if she's progressing properly. No one is even near 2nd level yet. I was also going to just dual her to cleric instead, but I'm not sure if that's allowed by game mechanics, and besides, a bard might be more interesting... Do bards have healing spells or is that just NWN?... At least she does now show up with a harp!

DAY 2: The Andrizztyl Saga begins...
Three lucky backstabs and a spell rest later, the childhood duo of Imoen the Quick (quick bard... heh) and her trusty "sidekick" Andrizztyl commences. They encounter another pair on the road ahead and recruit them only to suddenly discover they're evil... by looking at their character sheets... And then they became somewhat foolhardy- the evil ones, that is. Montaran was warned to stay back since there was only one short sword available and that had to go to Imoen, but the two decided to take the front lines and were both mown down by a single wolf. Montaran did do his best to knock the wolf out with baps to the nose.


I: "I guess they liked each other after all. Rather touching, isn't it, Bufflehead?"
A: "Don't call me that..."
I: "OK... Drizzt."
A: "Does the mere mention of...? Oh, nevermind. *sigh* All I wish is to continue my journey!"

In Beregost the duo makes it a trio with Gavin who seems eager to join anyone. What better to do when bored with temple duties than risk your life with perfect strangers? Introductions can come later...

Andryzztyl: MAGE 1/ THF 1; STR 18 DEX 19 CON 16 INT 18 WIS 10 CHA 8; (Total kills) TK 16; black bear; quarterstaff (again with the Reevor Rats... should've just let Imoen do it)
Imoen: BARD 1; STR 12 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 15 WIS 8 CHA 16; TK 7; wolf; bow and arrow
Gavin: CLERIC (Priest of Lathander) 1; STR 16 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 12 WIS 17 CHA 12; ---; ---

[EDIT: A child returns a necklace, Imoen goes up to level 2 as a bard and... game crashes... Starting over...]

Modifié par Bhryaen, 22 février 2011 - 02:34 .

[Grond0]

Bhryaen wrote...
[EDIT: A child returns a necklace, Imoen goes up to level 2 as a bard and... game crashes... Starting over...]

Imoen is a bard in my current game and seemed to work quite well in BG1.  As I haven't yet tried to rescue her in BG2 I'm not sure how effective she will be there with being limited to 6th level spells, but hopefully I'll have the chance to find out!

[Gorthaur X]

Wierdo wrote...

@Gorthaur X: Oberon certainly is doing well with those bandits! Nice action pics too. He uses strategies worthy of Wierdo herself.

Thank you. The bandit camp certainly gave me less trouble than I ever expected.

Meanwhile, we've made more progress, most of which is rather uninteresting, so I'll just summarize it quickly here:

Went through Cloakwood with no fuss, killing Centeol, some Wyverns and gaining the Spider's Bane on the way. Oh, and got revenge on Seniyad for ending my previous run.


"WHO IS LAUGHING NOW?"

Once at the mines, things started going south. I had to fight Drasus twice due to a crash (lesson here: quicksave after every big battle). However, I ended up noticing that Edwin could not cast all of his spells due to the repetition, so I suppose it wasn't a total loss (I'm playing with the "BG1 spells only" SCS component, but somehow Edwin still had Remove Magic, which he could memorize but not cast). The mines didn't go much better, either: on the second level, I almost ended up losing the game, when Hareishan - the boss mage of that level - was alerted by the very first guards at the entrance, and came at me along with the entire guard. Several confusions later, the outcome of the battle was in serious question, but a Potion of Magic Shielding and a Dispel Magic allow Shar-Teel to kill the mage, and the Confusion runs out just before Kagain kills Viconia. As if that were not enough, Shar-Teel then walks into a lightning trap and gets killed, prompting a week-long round trip to the Friendly Arm Inn.

Oh well.

As we came back, we decided to just skip the third level, sneaking past everyone with Smog's trusty invisibility spell. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that Davaeorn is pretty much right there when you enter level four, so I walked into the fight completely unbuffed and unprepared. His conversation triggered despite the invisibility, which he promptly dispelled, and Shar-Teel and Kagain were both taken out of commission by the Web/Stinking Cloud combo as they charged Davaeorn. Meanwhile, the rest of my group was being attacked by the door guard and the Battle Horrors were also starting to take interest while Davaeorn himself teleported in the middle of the room.

This could have gone really, really badly, but Viconia managed to summon a bunch of hobgoblins and skeletons to provide us with enough cover against the Battle Horrors for Edwin to dispel Davaeorn's protections. Kivan immediately began pelting the wizard with Arrows of Biting, but the damnable fiend made his saves and managed to fireball Kivan and Eddie in retaliation - I was surprised the Fairy Dragon didn't bite it there. That, however, was Davaeorn's last act of futile defiance, and a Magic Missile from Oberon ended his wretched life.

Just as everything looked to be turning for the best, I got two reputation points for saving the enslaved miners. This was bad - I had been counting on one, at the most, and now I was at sixteen, with any opportunity to lower it days of travel away. I made a desperate bid for the Friendly Arm's slanderous bard, but too late: Shar-Teel had had enough and took off. At least I had anticipated her reaction, so she didn't rob us of any essential gear, but still, a devastating blow. Her replacement, Coran, may be somewhat better thief, but he's also a vastly inferior warrior. I can now get to Baldur's Gate, at least, so the Gauntlets of Ogre Power will mitigate this somewhat, but he'll never have Shar-Teel's hit points or, more importantly, her ability to berserk. Hold and Confusion are suddenly even more terrifying.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 22 février 2011 - 11:30 .

[Bhryaen]

Grond0 wrote...
Imoen is a bard in my current game and seemed to work quite well in BG1.  As I haven't yet tried to rescue her in BG2 I'm not sure how effective she will be there with being limited to 6th level spells, but hopefully I'll have the chance to find out!

I think the bard part would work fine- though you're right about the not-so-powerful Bhaalspawn partner she makes- but Shadowkeeper's not the engine to bring it about... or maybe I just didn't know how to use SK sufficiently well. I changed her class to bard, and the usual bard trappings showed up, but when her leveling up caused a crash, well, I gave up immediately and went to reinstall. I'll have to start my main char over almost from scratch, but it should be fine. So far 2 losses from deaths, 2 from crashes.

By the way thanks for the empathy on both yesterday's death losses- both you and Wierdo (always feels funny calling you Wierdo, like I'm trying to be rude or something... ya Wierdo! ). I was just trying to let go of them quickly before I feel the need to sing funeral dirges or compose epilogues for contenders who clearly Sarevok had no need to worry about, much less come see about personally... I get attached to my characters... The last one had a funny dwarf voiceset that worked very well...

Since I'm gabbing for the moment I'll just throw in a quick "wow" for the others in the No Reload Challenge. I totally love these posts (as opposed to partially, obviously, which simply wouldn't be enough). GorthaurX's and Wierdo's are great fun, and actually I miss Miseri's Musings which are now in forbidden territory where I won't be able to read them until I actually get there and no longer find them BG2 spoilers. Although sometimes the references were confusing, the lyrics were always worth perusing with those clever word twists she was choosing, so if I can't again read Miseri's Musings, it is a great treasure I'll be losing, but at least the Sword Coast she's still enthusing...

[Gorthaur X]

Hey, by the way: Coran originally had three pips in bows in BG1, but since L1NPC didn't allow for that, I want to Shadowkeeper it in. Does anyone remember if he had an extra proficiency point, or if his existing proficiency points were just "illegally" allocated?

[Bhryaen]

Gorthaur X wrote...
Hey, by the way: Coran originally had three pips in bows in BG1, but since L1NPC didn't allow for that, I want to Shadowkeeper it in. Does anyone remember if he had an extra proficiency point, or if his existing proficiency points were just "illegally" allocated?

I don't know, but if you have a BG2 copy directory somewhere you could SK your way into the CRE files and look for him.

[Gorthaur X]

It seems Coran originally had the same amount of proficiency points as everybody else in BG1; he just got to allocate them in bows, unlike other Fighter/Thieves. So, his proficiencies are now 2/Longsword, 3/Longbow and 1/Single Weapon Style.

Having cleared the mines, we decide to explore the few remaining Sword Coast areas before heading to the big city. So, we go to Ulcaster, where we fight some kind of undead knight from hell(s):


"SHAZAM!"

Then we clear the Ulcaster dungeon, where Coran gets held by the (SCS) Ulcaster Wolf and dies before we can defeat it. If only Shar-Teel had been there.

Pondering over our options, we notice that there's a halfling village only a few hours away, so we decide to trek there to resurrect the elven lothario. Of course, everybody's got problems, and the littlefolk immediately start bothering us about a local kobold infestation. We're just too nice to say no, and Coran dies again - this time, it's a fireball trap he fails to disarm. Up to the temple we return. Frustrated with Coran's performance, we decide to just have Kagain run through the map, disarming any traps the manly way: by stepping into them. Sadly, while the approach works well enough on the traps, he does not survive running into a lightning bolt-casting wizard. And up we go again.

ANYWAY.

After finally doing all the quests in that hellish underground pit of darkness, we ascend to the Firewine bridge, where we run into a loud-mouthed self-proclaimed "finest swordsman on the Sword Coast". We turn him into the finest pincushion on the Sword Coast.

Exploring the dried-up riverbed, we finally run into something interesting: a rattled mage raving about an evil jar. We try to relieve her of this possession that clearly only causes her harm, and she summons a particularly mean and ugly Ogre Mage. Well, we've fought those before - how hard could it be?

Well, maybe it can be a little hard. Kagain gets hit by a Chaos spell while leading our skeleton charge and runs off. At least he finds some other skeletons to fight, so he's doing something to contribute to our party experience pool. Meanwhile, Oberon and Edwin try, several times, to dispel Kahrk's spell protections. It's a futile effort, but at least Kivan's mad archery skills are more useful.

So, of course, he holds Kivan's person. Viconia purges his invisibility, but it's of no use; this ogre has Shadow Doors up the wazoo. Whatever a wazoo is. So, we summon more skeletons and Haste them in the hopes that one of them might hit Kahrk at some point - preferably as he tries to cast a spell. But it's no use, and now Kahrk is raising his Shield and his Mirror Image and his Globe of Invulnerability back up again - how is he even doing that?

Exasperated, Oberon decides to try that one spell he has that exceeds level 3 - Emotion: Hopelessness. It takes Kahrk right out, and Viconia promptly dispatches him with a sling. Like so many hard men, the mighty ogre mage was ultimately undone by his own feelings.

As we're about to leave Firewine, we end up getting caught into yet another strange scenario with a succubus and her enslaved thief. Choosing to side against the demon, we get into a long and tedious fight with the succubus continuously healing itself by going ethereal. We begin to contemplate a most ignominious retreat, until Oberon remembers Kahrk's fate. Amelia turns out to be no more resistant to it, and she dies. Viconia gains a level.

Our party members are each now between a hundred and five and a hundred and fifteen thousand experience points, making for:

Oberon: Level 8 Sorcerer
Kagain: Level 7 Fighter
Kivan: Level 7 Ranger
Coran: Level 6 Fighter/ Level 7 Thief
Edwin: Level 8 Conjurer
Viconia: Level 7 Cleric / Level 6 Mage

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 23 février 2011 - 06:15 .

[Grond0]

Bhryaen wrote...
Since I'm gabbing for the moment I'll just throw in a quick "wow" for the others in the No Reload Challenge. I totally love these posts (as opposed to partially, obviously, which simply wouldn't be enough). GorthaurX's and Wierdo's are great fun, and actually I miss Miseri's Musings which are now in forbidden territory where I won't be able to read them until I actually get there and no longer find them BG2 spoilers. Although sometimes the references were confusing, the lyrics were always worth perusing with those clever word twists she was choosing, so if I can't again read Miseri's Musings, it is a great treasure I'll be losing, but at least the Sword Coast she's still enthusing...

Having played quite a bit in the last few months I thought a different write-up style might be nice to keep my interest going and, hey, Imoen is a bard.  Sorry about the references, but not too sorry - surely you know bardic references tend to be a bit cryptic.

[The Fred]

The Adventures of Pallyn

Headed to the Gnoll Stronghold (again). This time the journey was uneventful, but once there, Imoen wandered a bit to far the wrong way and was ambushed by some more (Dark Horizons) assassins! We eventually finished them off, despite suffering variously from confusion, horror, and death - the most annoying thing was that both of Xan's Charm Person spells worked, only to be broken by the AI having my guys attack them again. Unfortunately, Xan also perished in the fight - he has now suffered two deaths (and one in an parallel universe), making him the most often dead character in the party.

Well, I collected the goods, explored a bit of the south of the map, finding a Tome of Leadership and Influence, then headed back to Nashkel to raise the poor guy (against by better judgement). Luckily I sold a Ruby Ring for just more than the 800gp he cost. After identifying all the loot, I sold a lot of it and re-kitted out my party. Xan also burned up two Protection from Normal Missiles scrolls trying to scribe them, but managed to copy in Dispel Magic. I really will have to get him Haste or something - then he might actually be useful. On the up side, Imoen is only about one and a bit thousand XP away from reaching L5, at which point she'll get here theiving abilities back.

Pallyn gained a level, making him L5/4, but otherwise the rest of the party is unchanged.

Modifié par The Fred, 23 février 2011 - 02:50 .

[Deaderinred]

Finished the 2nd part of Bonehill last night, cleared out the nice looking lizard caves and ransacked the nice look castle, all which im pretty sure are ripped from iwd1/totlm/iwd2 but it works better then the areas of part 1 anyway, the lizard king was slightly tough but i suspect SCS wasnt actually affecting any of the bonehill characters, not even the mages so things went pretty smoothly.

After the lizard king battle, again loosing khalid and having to drag his body to a healer, only this time i was forced into clearing out the nice castle before i could get to a healer, i cant even count the amount of times he has died and i've had to bring him back.

The nice castle from totlm i think.

After all was said and done in bonehill it was time to go back to baldurs gate city and stop sarevok once and for all.

Current chapter 8 (bgt, supposed to be chapter 7) stats
John lvl 8 Fighter
Imoen lvl 7 Thief - lvl 9 Wild Mage
Khalid lvl 7 Fighter / lvl 8 Mage
Jaheira lvl 7 Fighter / lvl 9 Druid
Minsc lvl 8 Ranger
Dynaheir lvl 9 Sorcerer

Modifié par Deadinred, 23 février 2011 - 04:56 .

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...

So, we go to Ulcaster, where we fight some kind of undead knight from hell(s):


"SHAZAM!"

Then we clear the Ulcaster dungeon, where Coran gets held by the (SCS) Ulcaster Wolf and dies before we can defeat it. If only Shar-Teel had been there.

Oh dear, Ichyard is very hard with SCS and the improved ulcaster component. It is good, however Ulcaster was originally designed for low-level characters - it isn't like that anymore! BTW, that is a nice screenshot

Exasperated, Oberon decides to try that one spell he has that exceeds level 3 - Emotion: Hopelessness. It takes Kahrk right out, and Viconia promptly dispatches him with a sling. Like so many hard men, the mighty ogre mage was ultimately undone by his own feelings.

That is a clever approach! He is one tough ogre-mage that has caused me many reloads in a previous game. When Wierdo's party encountered Kahrk as part of this current challenge they didn't even have 3rd level mage spells (but did had Finch's Animate Dead), so they summoned some skeltons, circled Kahrk invisibly and just out-of-sight, and overwhelmed him (eventually) by attacking as one, not giving Kahrk enough time to re-buff while Wierdo/Xan used Detect Invisibility and Magic Missile etc (in fact, they used every offensive spell they had in memory + some scrolls) to pull down his invisibility, mirror images and stoneskins.

So that this strategy could work, Wierdo & Annakin had to first go "commando" to surgically eliminate 2-3 groups of lesser monsters (skeletons, zombies, dogs?) in the area.

Modifié par Wierdo, 23 février 2011 - 11:44 .